Dragon Ball Mirai
by CATMAN gojira
Summary: This AU fanfic chronicles the events that take place four years after Mirai Trunks' return to his own timeline, when he meets a mysterious and familiar girl with extraordinary power. Together they will not only have to face a new enemy looming on the horizon, but also their own unique and haunting pasts. It is vital that they revive the Dragon Balls at all costs.
1. Prologue

Prologue-

Pan's Point of View

Pan sucked in a deep breath of the chilly humid air, futilely attempting to cool the blaze of fire that had risen in her gut. The stone wall behind her was frigid beneath her thrumming fingertips as she braced herself in the trembling grip of the predicament in front of her. In hindsight she should have expected this to turn out badly, but there had been no other way to act.

It was her first time in Pepper Town. It was the biggest town she'd ever been in, large enough for the roughly patched houses to squeeze allies in between walls. Her boredom at the capsule shop had spawned curiosity, and she'd taken it upon herself to explore the bustling streets.

Less than two minutes ago she'd spotted two young girls heading home from what appeared to be a successful shopping trip. They cradled arms of groceries in their graceful limbs. They had long flowing hair and bright eyes...the picture of innocence. They couldn't have been more than three years younger than her. Adolescent; a flower coming into bloom.

They had turned down a secluded dimmed street, unaware of their ominous onlookers. With her keen senses, Pan could have spotted them from a mile away. Two thugs had stepped out of the alleyway, suggestively blocking the girls' path. They had tall builds, dressed in black. Pan's instincts screamed 'suspicious' and 'danger.'

"What is a pair of lovely young ladies doing out here all alone?" Came a mocking growl. The other snorted. "Have you come to play?" The girls took a hesitant step back as if deciding on how high their chances of a successful escape were. As they reached an aggressive hand out to grab one of the girls, Pan appeared, standing protectively in front of them, her ragged grey trench coat settling after her quick movements. Her feet were steady and unmoving on the firm ground. With a pair of surprised yelps, the girls fled. Pan stood alone in front of some of the most worthless excuses for men. Didn't they know life in that world was sacred? Humanity had been pushed nearly to the brink of extinction under the androids' wrath. Now they were going to continue raising the death toll? Four years of peace was not nearly enough time to recover from the damage the earth had received. With a new fire in her eyes, Pan let the duo cackle and throw her against the wall of the alley.

Pan blinked, her thoughts caught up with the present. Her slim dark brows furrowed over piercing black eyes. Her ferocious scowl caused her captor's face to falter in surprise. He quickly arranged his features into a leer, not about to get caught showing a sign of weakness. "How about you, _little girl?"_ he sneered. His partner snickered off to this side. "Do you want to play?" Pan struggled to hold onto her sanity. She wouldn't lose control. Not again. She was helpless to stop her conscious's descent. Adrenaline slid down her veins, heightening every sensation. A blaze grew in the pit of her stomach. She effortlessly knocked away the thug's grip on her jacket. The sixteen year old martial artist that had stood before them only mere moments before was gone, replaced by something much more dark and powerful. Pan's lips curled up into a smirk and the men began to back off in disbelief and confusion.

"What the…" Pan winded back her arm, feeling her power swell in her tight fist, as she prepared to throw a punch that would deal much more than a fatal wound to the cretin in front of her. "This'll teach you not to harass innocent young girls" she spat, preparing to launch her fist headlong into the man's face. Something warm slid around her wrist in a tight vise. Pan should have sensed his presence long ago, had she not been so drunk on her own power. She turned to deal with whoever was holding her back and found herself pinned beneath large green eyes. All rationality came flooding back to her and she was overwhelmed by a sense of dizzying relief. Her knees shook as he towered over her. "Takako" she breathed. He turned his gaze on the men behind her. "If you have any self-preservation you'll leave right now" he commanded in a voice so calm and authoritative that the men were scrambling away from them before the words had finished leaving his mouth. Pan shot her brother a wary look, steeling herself for a lecture. He sighed and a dropped a heavy hand onto her shoulder. "Are you alright, Pan?" Pan averted her gaze and huffed indignantly. "Do I look _hurt_?" she countered. Takako gave her a withering look. "You know what I meant. Next time just come and find me" he suggested. "You wouldn't have made it in time" came the flat reply. Pan couldn't keep the memories at bay as they relentlessly flooded her mind.

Her strength was a strange thing. Whenever she found herself up against something she didn't want to face, or when her emotions swung out of control she would snap. Her power would blind her and rage out of her conscious control. Her actions only ensured her survival and afterwards she would be weak and drained, sometimes even nauseous. Once, she fainted after a "fit." It had only been an inconvenience in her life until that day a few years prior, when she attacked Takako. They had been arguing about his mother, a tender subject, when he pushed her too far and in her anger, she lost control. Five broken bones had been the price Takako had to pay when he faced her wrath. She had just meant to bat at him in irritation, not shatter him like a fragile piece of glass. Takako had been in bed for months and Pan had all but exiled herself out of guilt. It had been a long time until she was talking and eating again, and even then, she had never fully regained the small amount innocence she'd maintained as a child. She wondered if there was something terribly wrong with her. Did her bloodlust come from her biological father, Son Gohan, or did it originally surface in her like an unwarranted glitch?

"Look Pan, I don't want to see you like that again. Maybe it wouldn't bother you so much if you just talked to me" Takako nearly pleaded, yanking Pan out of her thoughts. She looked at his mess of black hair, splaying around his ears. There were distressed creases in his forehead and his mouth was drawn down in a worried frown. He was her brother and he loved her and all she did was make him hover around her like an anxious mother-hen. Pan let out a long breath. "I'm sorry. You're right, I should have gone to retrieve you." Takako reached up to ruffle her raven hair with a half-hearted chuckle. "It's alright, kid. It wasn't your fault. Hey, look what I've gotten us" he said, moving to pull something out of his pocket. She curiously appraised the small object he cradled in the palm of his hand. He held the small plastic case out to her, encouraging her to take it. Pan turned it around her strong slim fingers, opening the clasp with a small "pop." A small capsule was nestled in the foam lining, labeled "_R3 HoverJet 68_."

It was the reason they had come to that town in the first place; a small step of victory in their grand plan to revive Takako's mother. That jet could take them anywhere, which would be the case as soon as they had a rare device called "The Dragon Radar" within their possession. She desperately hope that the Dragon Balls were real and not just the fairytales she was told as a child by Takako's mother. She wished for nothing more than the Eternal Dragon erasing the agony the Androids had put her and Takako through for the past nine years. She could still hear Takako's screams and the thunder in her ears as it sounded that night. She could still see her adoptive mother's body crumpled and broken in the mud and smell blood and decay in the air.

Pan felt a stinging in her eyes and forced a determined smile. "This is excellent, Takako! We are that much closer to success!" Takako's own smile was bittersweet. "It's been a long wait and we still have much to do but…It'll be worth it" he promised. Pan opened her mouth to inquire about when they would depart for West City when she heard the first scream. Seconds later they could hear an enormous crash and the ground began to shake roughly beneath their feet. Pan and Takako instinctively reached out for one another to steady themselves. The air was vibrating and began to thicken with the smell of burnt earth, concrete, and rubber. Once the ground was through shaking, Pan abandoned the alley and slid to a stop in the middle of the road. She could see people fleeing and shouting from what must have been the source of the destruction. Clouds of smoke billowed up above the buildings, blotting out the sun's rays and the bright blue sky.

"What the hell…?" Pan breathed, taking a hesitant step forward. She was stopped when Takako took a handful of the back of her jacket and yanked her back. "Pan, no! We need to leave Pepper Town!" Pan whirled on him with wide eyes. "We have to find out what's going on! What if someone is hurt?" she countered. Takako's face was stern and unbendable. "Pan what if it's the Androids? What then? They are unstoppable" came the grim reminder. Pan shook her head defiantly. "They've been gone for four years, Takako! They've been defeated. They are gone!" she insisted and took off for the end of the street. She could hear Takako give a reluctant huff before following on her heels. They slid around the corner and Pan spotted a mass of fire eating away at a series of shops and homes. Nothing but blazing rubble was left behind, as if a ball of fire had rained down from the sky. The inhabitants of Pepper Town were in a panic, scrambling away from the heat. Pan heard a cackling sound from far above and lifted her eyes, narrowing in on a pair of silhouettes shrouded by smoke.

The clouds slid away, leaving behind three people that seemed to be hovering in the air. One in the middle, obviously the leader, had a shock of silver hair that brushed his shoulders in the gentle breeze. He was clad in a vest and dark pants tucked into combat boots not unlike her own. His head was topped with an old truckers hat and his eyes were a dull lifeless blue. He looked ominous with a cold smirk gracing his lips. He was flanked by two lackeys that resembled circus clowns what with their odd skin coloring and unusual clothing. One wore a pair of darkly tinted sunglasses and the other had black hair woven into a braid so long it brushed the back of his knees. Pan gaped up at them as they hovered at least forty feet above the ground. Humans couldn't do that. With a faint sense of dread, Pan heard Takako curse next to her. The strange silver-haired leader's eyes connected with her own and Pan's skin crawled. There was something definitely wrong with his gaze.

"Ah, there she is. Finally the little mouse has crawled out of the shadows" he chuckled, dropping to the ground a few yards in front of her. He surprised her with his thick southern accent. Pan clenched her fists warily. "What are you?" she whispered. "That's none of your concern. It's obvious you're a Saiyan. The question is whether you're the Saiyan we're looking for." He appraised all five feet and a half feet of her with his icy eyes. "Fifteen! Identify" he commanded.

The shorter oddball took a lazy step forward and adjusted his sunglasses. There was a distant beeping sound and then a creepy smile crawled onto his purple face. "Takizawa Takako. Male. Twenty-eight years of age. Son of Launch and Takizawa Tenshinhan. Human." "And the girl?" the leader barked. "Son Pan. Female. Sixteen years of age. Daughter of Son Gohan. Mother's identification unknown. Descendant of Son Goku. Distinction…Saiyan hybrid." Pan swallowed hard at this discovery. Was the dwarf trying to say she wasn't human? The silver-haired leader seemed pleased with this information. "Excellent. Maybe you can help us? We're looking for Son Goku" he hissed. Takako moved, pulling Pan protectively behind himself. He spoke before Pan could. "You won't find him. He was killed by a heart virus over twenty years ago. Leave now" he insisted solemnly. There was a dejected sigh. "I was worried you were going to say something like that." There was a flash of movement and suddenly Takako was gone and there was an iron hard grip on her neck. Pan's breath suddenly became very shallow. "You know what I think" the silver-haired man murmured, his fingers hard on her neck and his face close to hers. "I think you're lying." Pan didn't have any doubt now. At his proclamation, she decided that this man was an Android and he had every intent on killing her. "Pan!" Takako cried but she couldn't turn her head to find him. She heard a scuffle and a grunt and new that the other Androids had him. "Tak-ako" she choked, clawing at the Android's grip. He laughed and shook her. "You're hiding him. Tell me where Son Goku is!" She blinked around her blurring vision. "I don't know what you're talking about!" she tried to scream, but the words only came out in breathy gusts. "Girl, I'm not someone you want to irritate. Tell me where he is! Now!"

Pan was in a state of shock and denial. How could her world have turned upside down like this? That morning she'd been stronger than any person she'd known. Undefeatable. Takako used to be stronger than her when she was younger, but when they began to train in the martial arts, her strength slowly began to surpass his. He was bigger and taller and older than she was, but the physical differences between them didn't stop the increase in her power. She began to win in their spars and her power had even begun to spiral out of control to the point she couldn't control it when she lost her temper. She wasn't angry now, though. No, the fact that she couldn't even break free of the Android's grasp was enough to disbelieve.

She was slowly succumbing to the unfamiliar feeling. Fear. She hadn't been scared in a long time. Not since the Androids' supposed "disappearance." She didn't like the feeling. It stuck in her throat, and swam in the pit of her stomach. Her feet and fingers began to go numb.

"I don't know where he is!" she persisted. She heard the Android growl and he disappeared. She fell victim to gravity. Crumpled alone on the ground, she lifted her head and saw Takako struggling in the in the silver-haired Android's grip. "Takako" she gasped and shot to her feet, preparing to launch herself at the Android. Her fit of adrenaline dropped flat when she found the other two Androids holding her back. The Android's arm was locked around Takako's head, holding him steady, prepared to break his neck at any given moment. Pan's stomach flipped.

"Let's try this again. Where is Son Goku?" the Android snarled. Takako stared at her, his expression unreadable. Pan struggled against her captors. "I've told you before! I do not know where he is! I've never met Son Goku! Let my brother go!" she demanded. Takako's face turned hard and determined, his green eyes flashing. "It's useless, Pan! Go! Run!" She shook her head in despair. "No! I'm not leaving you!" she wailed, her eyes burning with inadvertent tears. "This is your last chance" the Android cackled, tightening his hold. Takako grunted in the painful position. "Don't worry. I'll catch up!" His feet began to leave the ground as the Android took flight, slow and torturing. Takako grimaced and choked, his airflow cut off. "Please! I don't know where he is! Please stop!" Pan begged, sagging in the Androids' grasp.

The tears flowed down her cheeks, hot and uninvited. She didn't want to showcase such a weakness. She had to be strong. She had to do something. She pulled and twisted and kicked, unable to free herself. The Android's face fell into some sort of mocking semblance of a frown. "Not going to talk, eh? Fine." He descended, and Takako's feet touched the ground. His grip loosened and Takako sucked in a lung full of air. Pan's knees shook in relief and her eyes met Takako's. He gave her a grim smile, but a movement at the corner of her vision had her eyes jerking up to see a malicious sneer on the silver-haired Android's face.

It happened so fast that her eyes were unable to follow, and a hollow crack sounded like the pop of gunfire in her ears.

Takako fell to the ground and Pan saw that there was something terribly wrong about the angle of his neck. His face was slack and his once fiery green eyes…were empty. The Androids released her and she strode over to his body like a ghost, not really seeing or believing. She sank down to his side and reached for his shoulder before something in her snapped and she quickly retracted her hand.

For a moment, all she could do was sit there while all rationality slipped away and her mind was consumed by fire. Whatever violent entity that had entered her body, pulled her to her feet and turned her around so she was facing the Androids. Her eyes had dried and the air began to pull at the ground beneath her feet and swirl around her. Her hair lifted and flapped alongside the collar of her jacket in the wind she emitted. Her power was a physical and tangible thing now as it began to take physical form in the air around her. Her skin glowed from the inside and her veins felt like live wires.

The Androids' faces registered this change first in surprise and then arrogance. Somehow she thought that this arrogance would be short-lived. Little did Son Gohan's daughter know, her ki lifted exponentially, and lit itself like a light bulb in the dark…alerting anyone on earth who was able to sense energy.

AN:

New author, new story. If you like, please leave me a review or maybe follow the story. :) If you liked this go check out the inspiriation for this fanfic, my favorite fanfiction, "A Broken Down Universe" by dragonbabezee.

_Future Bulma gets herself and Trunks in a lot of trouble when she 'borrows' a time machine from a visiting time traveller. Her world is turned on it's head when the identity of the time traveller is revealed. It starts slow, but the pace picks up when the twists start coming. Contains time travel, sci-fi, romance and action! Rated M for language and sexual content._

Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Sci-Fi - Bulma, Vegeta


	2. Chapter One

DRAGON BALL MIRAI

AN: Yeah, okay so I think five months is long enough to wait for an update. O_O Anywho, I think this long introduction will suffice. Enjoy!

Chapter One

Trunks' Point of View

The wind was soft and warm when it brushed through his hair with golden fingers. The sun poked its head above the mountains, scattering its rays across the land and sparkling on the ocean below. The force of his aura sent giant waves rolling out behind him as he rocketed across the ocean's surface.

He pushed himself faster, reveling in the feel of power sizzling in every pore. How he wished he could have had that power all those years ago. Then maybe things could have turned out differently.

Trunks swallowed down the regret, pushing it back to deal with it another time. Right then he didn't want the sorrow…he didn't want to think. He just wanted to fly in the silence as dawn broke across the earth's burnt crust.

A flock of birds soared past him, riding one of the last warm currents of the summer breeze. The trees on the mountains below were scorched skeletons, a grim reminder of a darker time ruled by evil itself. However, the green fingers of life were crawling up the deceased trees, finding root in the soil and ashes. Trunks' heart leapt in his chest at the sight. Life was returning to the world, much as the way humans were slowly and warily emerging. The last four years had been rough, but slowly they had begun to rebuild. He had been up all night to ensure they had made progress on the plan to rebuild West City and the rest of the world, but that was the norm for his days as of late. Once he had defeated the Androids and Imperfect Cell, he had rested for all of two days before resuming his training and helping his mother.

After he'd left with the time machine, she hadn't returned to her plans for building the spaceship. The blueprints were still sitting in a haphazard stack in the corner of her office, gathering dust. No, instead Bulma Briefs had invested herself for the good of mankind. She had set to work on electrical power, rewiring and repairing all the damage that West City had taken the day it had been leveled to a barren wasteland. Trunks wanted to finish the spaceship and travel to New Namek, but it just hadn't been Bulma's priority. He fought her on it in a fit of despair, denying the blunt truth that it was just too late to bring back his mentor. Five years was the limit and the fifth anniversary of his death passed the day Trunks went back in time to warn the past. He wished he could bring that easy smile back. Those friendly onyx eyes that looked down on him with the pride a father has for his son. Gohan the only other person in the universe who had Saiyan blood running through their veins.

He was the only one who knew how Trunks felt.

Unfortunately, that cold night in the rain he'd passed that burden to his pupil's young and inexperienced shoulders. A fire burned in the pit of his stomach and the world turned blurry. Trunks rubbed the tears from his eyes agitatedly, before they could fall. He wasn't a child anymore. He wasn't weak. He wouldn't cry. He was back on the ocean now. Dolphin's leapt above the water in a playful attempt to tag him. He shot forward, leaving them all behind and a giant island appeared in the distance.

He slowed, coming to a gentle halt far above West City, nothing but a speck in the sky to those viewing below. It wasn't the time to mourn or regret anymore. He'd done his job and saved the world, but it still needed him to heal the scars.

Trunks absently rubbed his chest over the scar he'd received when Cell had blasted a beam of energy right through him. He winced, though he could no longer feel the pain it had once brought. It wasn't an injury, nor was it a battle he liked to remember. Trunks began his descent into the city, shoving both hands into the pockets of his pants, his lilac mop of hair fluttering around his ears and neck.

When he finally touched down on the lawn of his partially destroyed home, he sought out his mother's ki. It was bright, but flickering, tinted with weariness. She hadn't slept, which came as no surprise. She was still in the main lab they'd pieced together underground with tarps and slabs of broken concrete walls he'd found in the rubble. Trunks wove through the maze of rubble and tall grass that had been his front lawn since before he could remember and approached the ruins of his home. Ferns nestled against the leaning roof, waving at the fading stars in gentle farewell. He pushed aside the large panel of aluminum they used for a door, pulling the screeching thing closed behind him. The hallways were as they'd always been. Dimly lit, and large cracks ran along the walls and ceiling. Pictures hung crooked, the glass fractured in their frames. Crystal webs were cast along old photos of his mother and Yamcha, his grandparents, Son Goku and his family, and even a small portrait of him and Gohan. Trunks slid his eyes to the door at the end of the hallway, where a pale electronic light was escaping the lab's depths. He stepped inside, his feet nothing but a whisper against the ground.

His mother was leaning over in her chair, her eyes bleary as they scanned the coding on the computer screen before her. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she scripted the code for the main online unit that they were using to send radio wavelengths to other groups of civilization; their latest project. His mother sported a pair of cotton shorts and an old Capsule Corporation T-shirt that had belonged to him when he was a few years younger. Her aqua hair was mussed, attempting to remain in the half-hearted bun she'd tied it back in. There were circles around her eyes. A coffee cup perched beside the laptop, half empty and still steaming. She hadn't seen him come in; such was the intensity of her focus. Trunks placed a gentle hand on his mother's shoulder. She nearly jumped out of her seat in surprise, and he recoiled.

"Trunks!" she exclaimed breathlessly, pressing a hand to her racing heart, the alarm in her glacier-blue eyes fading. "You scared the hell out of me" she reprimanded, settling back into her seat, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "I was beginning to wonder where you were." Trunks chuckled and slumped down on the ripped and scratched leather couch across from her desk with a sigh.

"I took the long way back" he replied, blowing a puff of air at the fine locks hanging in his face. Bulma took a sip of her lukewarm coffee before setting the long-running script on standby with a few simple clicks. "So how did it go?" she asked, cradling her coffee cup. Trunks was beginning to feel the effects of his sleepless night and yawned unintentionally.

"Well. The connection to the motherboard was successful and boards two and five are ready for programming. With any luck we'll be in contact with South America by the end of the week" he replied, informatively. Bulma crossed her legs.

"I didn't expect any less" she teased, but Trunks refused to bite. He fixed his mother with a knowing look before quickly glancing away. "And well, you know we could always secure a satellite. It wouldn't take to long to finish building the spaceship…" he trailed off suggestively but Bulma had already closed her eyes in reluctant refusal. Trunks frowned at the ceiling, his eyebrow twitching in irritation. After a long pause he heard his mother sigh.

"Its gonna take a lot more conniving than that to get past me" she murmured softly, a maternal edge in her voice. Trunks' chest tightened and his hands curled into fists.

"The trip can wait." That stroke of finality in her voice pushed past his stoic façade, slipping over the edge.

"You're selfish" he retorted without looking at her. He felt her meager ki flare in that fiesty way she had. "You would chose my safety over the fate of the world." He jumped up, glaring at her accusatorily. He loved his mother, she was the only thing he had left, but she blocked the path to his duty. To something that both he and Gohan knew was the right thing to do. When she remained silent he began to pace.

"What is going to happen if something worse than the androids- _worse than Cell- _finds the earth? We need the Dragonballs and we need the eternal dragon. The fate of the world is my responsibility now, and I _won't _let it be destroyed again."

He couldn't understand what was driving his mother to such insanity. He was staring at the same woman who'd sent her own son back in time, and had the gall to stand up to the arrogant enigma that was his father. She had such a forceful spirit that she could make the strongest men in the universe quiver at her feet…but she couldn't let him go on a small trip through space to retrieve a gaurdian for earth? Her face was drawn in dissapointment, her eyes swimming and Trunks felt guilt wash over him. He shouldn't have lashed out like that. He bowed his head and didn't move when he felt her hand brush his hair out of his eyes.

"You've done your job. You've saved the earth, so please," she whispered and wrapped her arms around him. "Please just give me a little time to have you back." "I'm sorry, mother" he mumbled, burrying his face in her shoulder. She nodded, holding him in her slender capable arms, as if he was still a child and not the adult he'd been forced to be for the passed nine years. He exhaled heavily.

"Now why don't you go get some rest. I'll find us some lunch" she suggested, nudging him towards the door. "You sure you don't need me anymore?" he pressed, looking back over his shoulder at her. "Positive" she promised, her eyes still glistening. She winked anyway, passing him a grin. Trunks passed her a grimace before making his way up to his room. Her following laugh lingered behind him.

Trunks closed the door to his room and kicked off his boots, throwing his jacket on a chair in the corner. He moved to the window without a pane and pulled the ripped curtains shut, throwing the room into dimness. He flopped down on his bed, the springs protesting loudly. He hugged the pillow, trying to find solace in his cold sheets as sleep slowly crept in like a shroud.

His thoughts turned slack and succumbed to darkness. The black world wavered around him, shifting into something bright and white. A huge barren room with no walls and no end.

Silence throbbed in his ears and he felt thick and heavy with the increased gravity pressing down on every cell in his body. He was back in the hyperbolic time chamber. He marveled at the emptiness again, amazed he'd been able to spend an entire year inside.

He waited for the air to change as it often did when he had been training with his father. A blizzard or a storm of fire had once surfaced from nothing, achieving in its to suffocate him. Now nothing happened, and the dizzying white abyss remained.

He was gathering the courage to take a step forward when he heard a boom resounding against the particles in the air. First it was distant and then the wave of noise found him, forcing him to slam his hands down on his sensitive ears and the ground beneath his feet to rumble.

"What…?" he whispered, his eyes scanning the nothingness that surrounded him. The boom came again, louder than before, and he imagined it was how an explosion would sound from under water. A huge nuclear explosion that matched the ki attacks of the androids that leveled entire cities. He crouched in his usual defensive stance, a mix between his father's and his mentor's styles.

"Father?" he shouted, expecting to find the arrogant Saiyan in a rage while his power level skyrocketed, desperately attempting to grasp the next transformation and ascend to an even higher level…He strained his ears, waiting.

The explosion of sound hit him again but this time, his eyes sprung open and he sat straight up in bed. He was breathing hard and sweat ran down his neck. His hair was wild around his face and his hands clenched the sheets, his strength ripping right through the fabric. He swallowed, orienting himself. He looked at his watch and was amazed to find that it was nearly afternoon. His mother hadn't come to wake him up and he'd slept right through lunch. His stomach growled in impatience.

Then a force flashed across his mind with the equivelent of the sounds he'd felt in his dream. It was bright and unmistakably Saiyan. He'd learned to differntiate between the power levels of his Saiyan comrades and other lower-leveled fighters. He'd refined his sense of ki enough that he was even able to place the difference in incredibly insignificant power levels between humans. His mind raced in confusion. He shook himself.

Was he still dreaming?

It flashed against his conciousness again, insistent. It was so sharp, like a blade slicing across his senses. He couldn't ignore it and reached out with his mind, appraising it. He sensed danger, panic, and distress.

The powerlevel was remarkabley high, nearly toe to toe with Krillin or Yamcha when he'd last seen them in the past. He blinked and then jerked out of his frozen state of awe, lunging into action.

He hastily pulled on his boots and jacket, insinctively snatching his sword where it was leaning against the wall. He shot out of the room, agilely managing not to break anything. Once he had put a good amount of distance between him and the house, he pushed all his power out behind him and shot after the stray powerlevel at full speed.

His hunger forgotten, he focused soley on this stranger. The ki was wild with anger and fear and he pushed himself faster, alarmed by this display of unique power. Mountains loomed far in the distance, sheltering the ki from the prying eyes in the sky. He wasn't sure how many minutes had passed since he'd first felt he uproar of that powerlevel and his eyes frantically searched the forest below him. He stretched his senses, finally picking up a thick choking smell that he easily identified as smoke coming from the other side of the mountain.

Trunks shot forward, circling around the peak and spotting a huge cloud of smoke drifting across the slope. He could see the fire far below, encasing old buildings in flames. A town had been destroyed. Trunks growled, his eyes flashing. Then in the midst of his anger, he spotted them gathered just beneath the clouds of ash and dust. He descended to get a better look, assessing the situation beneath his feet.

There were two facing each other, a couple others off to the side and one lying face down on the ground. The lone Saiyan ki was emenating from a petite form hunched over, like it was struggling to remain on its feet. The other was huge and appeared unharmed but a closer feel led Trunks to confirm that it had no powerlevel. Absolutely none. It wasn't human. He glanced at the others.

No sense of life. They were androids.

"What are you waiting for? Come at me!" baited the small creature with the unusual ki. It's voice was high and feminine. A young girl. "You've got it" twanged the hulking android and Trunks' blood went cold in recognition of the familiar voice. How could he have forgotten about Android 13 and his lackies? It was a mistake he had a feeling he was going to regret.

The battle against Android 13 in another timeline had been brutal. However, he was confident his recent power-up would make a difference this time. Android 13 had already formed a ball of swirling red energy in the palm of his hand. It was the kind that had nearly rendered Son Goku useless in a different battle amongst glaciers. Even if that girl's powerlevel was remarkable and held the tint of a Saiyan ki, she was going to be destroyed. Her body would dissolve in the face of such power and ride the wind in less than a whisp of ash.

Android 13 hurled the energy at her at a blinding speed. It became an enormous beam the moment it left his grasp, lighting their surroundings in a bright blood red. Trunks noted with alarm that she didn't make a move to dodge.

She smirked before quietly lifting her arms in a feeble block. Her ki faltered like the delicate flame of a candle. She was going to die.

Trunks phased in, jumping hundreds of feet in an eighteenth of a second. He appeared in her path with time to spare before winding up his own ki and knocking the beam of energy to the wayside, where it harmlessly bounced back to the sky.

When the lazer-like light cleared and the dust settled all eyes had fallen on him. Android 13 was smiling, unfazed by his sudden appearance, but Trunks could hear the almost inaudible gasp behind him.

She hadn't felt his ki. She hadn't felt his approach.

That revelation led Trunks to assume she was untrained in ki usage. The androids were attacking an innocent girl who seemed to possess a potential that matched his own, even if she didn't know it yet.

"You have no business here, son of Vegeta" Android 13 announced mockingly. Trunks' clenched his fists, lifting his ki so that the air gathered around him, helpless to the force of his aura. His hair flickered between gold and lavender, straining towards the sky. His skin glowed from within with an energy that resembled sunlight.

"Enough! You will not lay another hand on her" he decreed, his voice echoing across the remains of the town and the forest on the wayside. The ground quaked, and Trunks let out a short shout, pushing past the pinnicle of his base strength, transforming into a monster of light and wind.


End file.
